1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for providing wireless pointer control for controlling electronic equipment, including a remote control pointer device or hand held transmitter capable of generating a signal having multiple signal components with different frequencies and a receiver capable of receiving and decoding the signal having multiple signal components.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR .sctn..sctn. 1.97-1.99
Heretofore, various systems for providing wireless pointer control for controlling electronic equipment have been proposed. Several examples of analogous and non-analogous systems for providing wireless pointer control for controlling electronic apparatus are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee ______________________________________ 4,565,999 King et al. 4,745,402 Auerbach 4,796,019 Auerbach 4,959,721 Micic et al. 5,023,943 Heberle 5,349,460 Ogasahara et al. 5,448,261 Koike et al. ______________________________________
The King et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,999 discloses a cursor control system for use with a data terminal including a radiation source and an associated radiation sensor. Either the radiation source or the radiation sensor is attached to the data terminal display, while the other is directionally movable by the user. The system translates the directional motion of the user controlled radiation device to control the movement of a cursor displayed on the data terminal display.
The radiation source includes multiple LEDs. Each LED is oriented to transmit along a unique line of sight, non-parallel to the other LED's line of sight. Each LED is individually illuminated to avoid interfering with the sensing of the illumination of the other LEDs by the radiation sensor. The system then computes the directional orientation of the radiation source with respect to the radiation sensor, and appropriately positions the cursor on the terminal display.
Auerbach, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,745,402 and 4,796,019 disclose a display system using a remote control hand unit having a "pointing function" capability for moving a cursor displayed on a display screen by changing the angular position of the remote control hand unit. The remote control hand unit includes multiple LEDs grouped in pairs of oppositely positioned LEDs. Each pair of LEDs is separately illuminated, with each LED within a pair transmitting a phase-encoded signal 180 degrees out of phase with its partner LED's signal. The resultant phase of the signal received by the receiver is indicative of the angular position of the transmitter.
The Micic et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,721 discloses a remote control system including a remote control receiver and a remote control transmitter, for selecting menu items displayed on the screen of the television set. Some of the disclosed embodiments determine the selected menu field based upon the directional orientation of the remote control transmitter with respect to the screen.
The embodiments that determine the selected menu field based upon the directional orientation of the remote control makes use of an optical lens for focusing an incoming light beam and preserving the angle of entry of the incoming light. The incoming light in one embodiment is a separate light emitting diode located near the screen, while in another embodiment the incoming light is a pattern generated by the raster scan-line.
The Heberle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,943 discloses an electrooptical arrangement for remotely controlling an electronic apparatus with a remote control transmitter. The remote control transmitter having three sources of radiation whose radiation patterns are different from each other and can be comparatively detected relative to each other to indicate the tilting of the transmitter in different reference plane directions. A radiation detector located at the electronic apparatus to be controlled detects the different radiation intensities for the signals from the three sources to determine the tilt angle of the remote control. Two of radiation patterns from the signal sources are modified by a leaf diaphragm structure.
The Ogasahara et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,460 discloses a remote control system for controlling a television receiver which uses a cursor controlled by the directional orientation of the remote control to select items in a displayed menu. The remote control determines its directional orientation by measuring the intensity of a light signal received from the device to be controlled. The light signal is received through a diaphragm having a small opening upon a group of four sensors arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The intensity of light received at each of the sensors is interpreted to determine the orientation of the remote control.
The Koike et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,261 discloses a cursor control device for controlling the display position of a cursor displayed on a display device. The cursor position is controlled by the location of a remote control. The remote control has a light emitting element whose emission is detected by an imaging device including a CCD. The location of the emitted light received within the CCD array of sensors determines the position of the cursor on the screen. The cursor is controlled by the position of the remote control and not the directional orientation.